Crosswalk.com aims to offer the most compelling biblically-based content to Christians on their walk with Jesus. Crosswalk.com is your online destination for all areas of Christian Living – faith, family, fun, and community. Each category is further divided into areas important to you and your Christian faith including Bible study, daily devotions, marriage, parenting, movie reviews, music, news, and more.

Experiencing LIFE Today - Apr. 3, 2012

2012Apr 03

COMMENTS

His pain, your gain

“We have so theologized the passion and death of this sacred man that we no longer see the slow unraveling of his tissue, the spread of gangrene, his raging thirst.” —Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

The images in the movie “The Passion of Christ” stunned us all. After decades of dissecting the meaning of the Cross, some of us had become desensitized to the fact that the crucifixion was all too real that day in Jerusalem: real whips, real nails, scarlet blood, steaming sweat, bitter tears—real suffering.

Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. —Isaiah 53:4-5

The writers of the Gospels don't go into the gory details of the Cross. They described His mode of torture and execution as quite a matter of fact. (Historians and Hollywood have willingly filled in the graphic descriptions.) Prior to the Cross, Jesus knew the normal demands and limitations of the human body. We don’t have an indication that He got sick, but He may have. We do see plenty of hunger, thirst, and being physically tired. He definitely understands physical suffering; He certainly sympathizes with our physical suffering.

The important thing is that Jesus is here and Jesus cares. And did something about it. Because of the suffering that He endured through His death on the Cross, we can know a peace that surpasses all comprehension, a joy in spite of our circumstances, and an intimacy with Him through that shared experience.

Lord Jesus, Isaiah predicted that You would carry my sorrows and take up my infirmities. So I leave them with You now. Thank You for the peace that was bought through Your punishment and the healing that I can know through Your wounds. I claim that now through faith in You! Amen.

God is great. God is good. It’s sung as a hymn and taught to children as a prayer. But we’re not always sure we believe it! Why? Because of suffering. We see real devastation in our own families and across the world and think, “Either God is not so great, or He’s not so good.”

In this 2-message series called Making Sense of Suffering, Stuart and Jill Briscoe turn to Scripture to show you why God allows suffering, what good can come from it, and what happens when you accept the unacceptable.

Making Sense of Suffering is our gift to thank you for helping others experience real Life in the midst of their suffering. So please request your copy when you give to Telling the Truth today.